London

Data reflects the state of sustainability in the global commercial real estate sector

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JLL hosted a lively reception to launch the European results of the 2016 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) on Wednesday 7th September at its Warwick Street office in London. Over 100 influential individuals from the listed and private property sector gathered to discuss the results and key trends that have a significant impact on sustainability within real estate and what they mean for ambitions such as those set out by the COP21 climate negotiations.

GRESB, a leading benchmarking organisation for real estate companies and funds has a mission to enhance and protect shareholder value by evaluating and improving sustainability practices in the global real estate sector. This year, GRESB has analysed the sustainability performance of more than 1,100 real estate portfolios of both private equity and listed companies. A record number of real estate companies and funds, representing more than 66,000 assets across 63 countries and $2.8 trillion in asset value took part in the 2016 assessment. In addition, 18 debt funds participated in the GRESB Debt Assessment, an 80 percent increase over 2015. Upstream Sustainability has supported over 30 clients in making GRESB submissions covering over 1,100 properties, with a floor area of 118 million sq ft and value in excess of £30 bn.

Philip Hirst, Director, Upstream Sustainability Services, said: “GRESB has become the primary sustainability benchmark for the listed real estate sector and JLL is central to this initiative; sitting on its technical committee, hosting the results launch and advising our clients on the benchmark. This year GRESB introduced a health and wellbeing module to reflect the massive growth in interest in this topic amongst investors and real estate companies, further reinforcing the value of this survey to our clients and the opportunities that JLL has to become the leading advisor on health and wellbeing in buildings.”